never a jealous girl
by sessha16
Summary: a series of side-stories of Mai, pre/in-between/post series.
1. Chapter 1

_this is my first ATLA fic and my comeback in FFnet. i only use notepad, and i rarely use the CAPS key, so any mistakes in capitalization, grammar and such are my fault._

_about the story... this is really not how i thought of the story to come out as, but while writing it, it just flowed that way. i still have some stuff on my mind and i think all the stories will fit into one storyline, so i decided to just put it into a multi-chapter fic. this might still be due for re-write if i'm not lazy enough to re-do it. rating will be T since i'm not really sure how the other chapters will be. and updating will be dependent on my muse and how often will my mind work. =)_

_Disclaimer: the fanfiction story's mine but the characters are borrowed from **Avatar: The Last Airbender** by Mike and Bryan and Nickelodeon_

* * *

Mai has never been a jealous girl.

Growing up, she's got pretty much all the attention she wanted. Well, she even got more than the attention she ever needed. Being an only child, her parents always made sure she got what she wanted, on one condition; she have to follow whatever they said. For everything she asked for, she just had to stay quiet, stay silent, stay obedient, and basically, stay put. It wasn't hard really, for her, her parent's political agenda were nothing but boring work. She didn't want to deal with it either way, so staying in the shadows were something of a good thing for her.

She doesn't mind that her parents never had enough time with her or that she was asked to go to her room and play alone. After all the meetings with older people who only talk about stuff that she didn't care about, staying in her room was a welcoming thing. She's even surprised her parents took them long enough to think that a noble girl shouldn't be listening to all that horrible attacks they were planning on doing to other nations. Noble girls shouldn't be worrying about that, they should just stay pretty and just be a sight to behold.

She doesn't mind that she was sent to the Fire Nation's elite school. After all, it would be nice to get away from the boring house for a while to meet other people.

But she was mistaken, it wasn't at all interesting. All the girls were either so stuck up or so whiny that she didn't want to mingle with any of them. Again, without much thought, she stayed in the shadows. That was until she gained the attention of the Fire Nation Princess.

"So, what do you do?"

The Fire Nation Princess stood looming over her one afternoon. It was their breaktime and Mai had decided that polishing her new set of daggers would be a good time to pass the time. This is not a first time somebody asked her a question with an obvious answer, so she merely raised her left hand holding the dagger up, without looking at her inquirer.

"No, I mean, what do you _do_." The Fire Nation Princess didn't like being ignored and Mai took it as another stuck up girl who wants all the attention. She just shrugged.

"You don't look like a firebender and I haven't seen you at the arena practicing fire bending either." She shifted from where she's standing and walked around Mai. Mai, still not looking up, continued on polishing her daggers, now at her second. Listening was something she's very good at.

"Unless you're like my brother who have to hide with his fire bending teachers to excuse his feeble attemp at producing fire from his palms. Really, if he isn't my brother, I wouldn't think of him with the royal blood."

Like instinct had told her, Mai shot up a glance at the girl beside her. The girl she's been intently ignoring was the Fire Nation Princess herself. Mai could already hear her mother scolding her for being ignorant and for being rude. And she knows she would just never hear the last of it if she didn't do anything to rectify the situation.

Mai scrambled at her feet, dropped her daggers to the lawn, shifted to her side to face the Princess, leaned forward and bowed low to her.

"I'm sorry Princess, I should've known it was you. I apologize for my actions. I never thought the Princess would be in the gardens at this time."

The Princess's mouth moved to grin at Mai. It doesn't matter that the greeting was late, but at least she knew her place.

"Azula! Call me Princess Azula."

Mai looked up and saw the grining Princess staring at her. Feeling she had again violated another code of conduct, she placed her forehead back to her hands. She felt the sweat forming around her palms as she pressed it more flat to the lawn beneath her.

"Yes, Princess Azula."

"Sit up!" Azula commanded. It wasn't as commanding as what she would hear from their teachers, but not as soft as what Mai's parents had used on her. It was as if Azula was just commanding one of her servants but not quite as belittling.

Mai slowly returned to her sitting position, straightening her clothes beneath her. She wiped the sweat from her palms on her skirt in an attempt to also flatten the cloth and taking off some of the grass that had stuck themselves on the silk.

"So, what do you do?" Azula asked again, offering her a small smile.

"I throw knives." Mai answered hesitantly. She didn't know why, but something has told her that it was the kind of answer the princess has been asking for.

And if she didn't look, she would've missed the way the Princess's eyes glisten and her smile become wider. But it wouldn't be hard to miss why the Princess had decided that she'd be good to hang around with.

And on that day, she earned herself a friend.


	2. Chapter 2

_was supposed to be doing another chapter for my other fic... which then made me start on a maiko fic... but then it eventually came to this... i don't know, sometimes the ideas have a way of getting away from me..._

_next chapter for this may be sooner than later_

_

* * *

_

When Mai first came to the palace to play with Azula, she didn't think too much about it. She was nervous at first, knowing one little mistake could cause too much suffering at the hands of her parents. They were just too excited beyond words when they received an invitation from the palace that Mai had to survive hours of lectures and dressing up before she was ushered to the doors leading her to the guards waiting outside of their house to accompany her to the palace. Her parents won't hurt her, but thinking of how much verbal torture she would have to endure if she was to act "inappropriately" in front of the royal family, she might as well just be burned by the firebenders.

The moment she entered the palace grounds, all nervousness were gone and it was replaced with excitement. Just thinking of what she had to expect, what she could do there, what she would see gave her enough excitement to fill her bored mind. Growing up, she didn't have any friends, didn't have anybody inviting her to their house to hang out. Even if she did, the ones her parents introduced her to were just boring, all caught up in their own worlds where they were the greatest people in the Fire Nation. She wondered now how they'd react that she's just minutes away from meeting one of the truly greatest person in the nation - a firebending prodigy and a princess at that.

When the princess addressed her, she felt a little ashamed. She didn't know why, but there was something in the way the princess looked at her that she felt she had no right to be in her presence. It must be the royalty thing, she thought.

"Mai! I'm so glad you could make it." Azula expressed, holding out her arms to Mai. "Come here. I have someone I would like you to meet."

Mai followed her to a room, much bigger than their own sitting room. The walls were adorned with elaborate tapestry of most exquisite art that which includes silk, gold and cotton. The room was adequeately lit with torches placed high on the walls and one wouldn't care to notice it if they didn't have the inquisitive eyes such as Mai's.

Sitting on one of the comfortable couch at the end of the room was a girl, not much older, but could've been younger than her. She was wearing pink and she thank whatever spirits for giving the girl a bright big smile on her face to help her ignore her distaste for such girly color.

"Mai, this is Ty Lee. Ty Lee, this is Mai." Azula introduced. Of course, Ty Lee, she reminded herself. Everybody knew Ty Lee in the Royal Fire Nation Academy for Girls, for she was the most popular girl there. It's no wonder Azula was her friend.

"Hello Mai!" Ty Lee grabbed Mai's hands and waved it up and down as if to expressed her glee. "I hope we'd be great friends. Azula told me you're good with knives. Aren't they dangerous?"

Mai had to supress rolling her eyes, she didn't want to upset the princess' friend. "I'm careful enough to handle them."

"Ty Lee, give Mai some space." Azula commented as she tried to pry Mai from Ty Lee's grasp. She lead the shy girl to the couch and let her sit on the side closest to her, setting Mai in between her and Ty Lee.

"So, what are you planning for us to do today, Azula?" Ty Lee asked as soon as she was seated beside Mai. She had offered Mai some tea and drank a cupful of her own while waiting for Azula's reply. "Could we watch the travelling circus this time? It's in the city and you said we can watch them last week." Ty Lee continued, seemingly pleading to the princess.

"Surely, you don't intend to bore our new friend by inviting her to a circus. Right, Mai?" Azula casually said while casting a sidelong look at Mai. Mai carefully placed the cup of tea on the table, trying to think of an answer before speaking. She looked at the once cheerful girl beside her, that had suddenly somehow reduced to a begging puppy. She doesn't understand the reason for humbling yourself for something you want but having lived the life of getting whatever she wanted in exchange of limiting her childhood freedom, she couldn't deny another person's unvoiced request.

"I heard the circus has acquired some rare animals, some were known to be very dangerous. I haven't been anywhere close to any kind of entertainment since Mother and Father only allows me to attend to official business engagements. If I may say, Princess Azula, I think a visit to a circus would be anything but boring."

"I suppose a visit to the circus couldn't be that bad." Azula stood and faced the guards stationed at the entrance of the room. "Where are my father and mother?" The guards looked at each other, clearly out of answers. "Nevermind, I'll look for them." She looked at the two girls still seated on the couch. "Wait for me."

As soon as Azula was out of the room, Ty Lee reached out to Mai's hands and held it on her own and affectionately squeezed it. "Thank you!"

Not acccustomed to such actions, Mai gave her a demure smile, comparably small to the huge smile the other is sporting. "Why are you so intent on going to the circus?"

"Oh, you haven't been to a circus before?" Ty Lee looked like a baloon that was just pricked by a needle. She obviously wasn't listening to what she said to the princess earlier. Mai couldn't help but just shrug. "The circus is such a great place, Mai. They have people who can walk on ropes, do handstands, swings from ropes while hanging on bars with their legs, jugglers, even people who can jump through hoops in mid air. They're amazing, Mai."

"If you say so."

It was not until they were at the circus later that she nearly wished she could take back what she said. The circus was full of colors, that she thought she couldn't pick which annoyed her more - the idea of being surrounded by ablinding hues or the activities around her. She was almost thankful though when she saw from the corner of her eyes, an old man practicing with his knives. Maybe it wouldn't really be as bad as it could be.


	3. Chapter 3

_just my little take on how Mai could've taken into learning throwing knives._

_

* * *

_

"So.." Ty Lee started, craning her neck to look at Mai. They were in the school garden waiting for Azula and Mai, as always, had taken this time to polish her daggers after a few minutes of practicing on her aims. Being the Princess' friend didn't stop her from what she loved to do. "What is it about knives and daggers that got you so... I don't know, excited about?"

"What makes you think I'm excited about knives?" Mai spared a quick look at Ty Lee before picking up another dagger from the stretched cloth lying on the lawn in front of her.

"Oh, I don't know. Something about your aura. There's this certain glow in you whenever you 'play' with your knives." Ty Lee raised her hand, seemingly tracing some invisible light forming around Mai's body for emphasis at her last words.

"And when did you learn to read this... so-called auras?" Mai asked. She waved the dagger on her hands, before continuing on polishing it. She didn't believe in auras but she had to deflect the way this conversation was going. She just didn't feel like telling her new friend anything about her. Not when they just knew each other for a month.

Sure, she felt some kind of familiarity with Ty Lee now and she would be lying if she didn't admit to having fun being with her. But her energy can sometimes be too overwhelming that it takes a lot out of her to catch up and not eventually explode. Ty Lee was prone to being too exhausting as a friend.

"Can you keep a secret?" Ty Lee whispered. Even without waiting for Mai's reply, she leaned forward to place her face closer to Mai's ears and continued. "I'm taking lessons from somebody. She's also teaching me about chi and stuff of that sort. She said you can use it for defending yourself. It's really amazing."

Mai casually turned her head toward Ty Lee and offered her a smile. "Sounds interesting." It wasn't a lie. She was genuinely interested that other than her, there's somebody else who would dare keep a secret such as that and having her confide in her.

Ty Lee was also a nobleman's daughter and as far as what she had heard from people talking about her, she's not a firebender as well. In the Fire Nation, nobleman's daughters who were not firebenders were being betrothed to a wealthy nobleman - for protection and as much as for prosperity. They serve one purpose, to serve their husbands. They don't have luxuries of being enrolled to military schools that the boys without the ability to bend were taught on other forms of fighting. Thus, learning to become a warrior was something that girls like them shouldn't be publicly announcing.

Having been born a girl and a non-bender, her parents have taken into grooming her to be one of the finest lady in the nation. She had been thought how to behave, how to act and how to dress up. She hated it the moment she'd learned what it was for. She was still young and she probably didn't knew much, but one thing she understands, she doesn't like the idea of idly sitting around waiting for something to happen.

One night, during one of their prestigious dinners with somebody her father had invited, she had made a mistake of reaching out for her food in what her mother would call an "un-lady" manner. That night, to impress their guest, they had served meat. At first, Mai was acting accordingly to what her mother had instructed her and her mother looked so proud of her. But during the course of the meal, she came across the most annoying meat ever. The meat refused to get caught by her metal chopsticks that she ended up spearing the food with her chopstick in pure impatience. The minute the food was deposited to her mouth, she saw the disappointed look from her Mother that she barely had enough time to chew on the meat before she shallowed it almost still entirely whole.

Not wanting to bring more embarrassment to her father, her mother waited till their guest was finished eating and ordered the servants to send Mai to her quarters, done with dinner or not. Still holding unto the chopsticks from dinner, Mai was told to stay in her room and not to go out till the next morning. She stomped to the couch in her room and slumped down into it. A few minutes later, one of the servants came in, holding a tray of fruit tarts and tea. The servant said it was for the lady and winked saying it was not nice seeing a young girl frowning. She knew her Mother didn't order to have the tray sent to her and thanked the servant for bringing her the food.

Still hungry from the sudden end of her dinner, she decided to disregard her chopsticks and threw it to the wall from across her. It made an audible thud as it hit the wall and with a fruit tart still unbitten in her open mouth, she looked at where it hit. There, just a few inches from the expensive painting of a dragon, that her Uncle had given her for her birthday, the chopstick stuck haughtily.

"And did you know, you can stop benders from bending by blocking their chi?" Ty Lee chattered. Mai had stopped listening the minute she finished polishing the last of her daggers. She wanted to practice throwing them again, but thought the better of it, knowing that Azula will be coming over shortly and wouldn't want to upset her if she had to gather them all again in case the princess wants to leave the gardens. Azula just didn't have the patience when it comes to anything.

She heard Ty Lee mention backflips and cartwheels but her thoughts were no longer with her. She wasn't sure what else she had missed so decided to start listening again.

"She said we'll be trying walking on ropes next week." She clasped her hands in front of her with a delightful look on her face. "Oh Mai, I'm so excited."

Mai chose that moment to collect her daggers and wrap them on the cloth before hiding it inside a secret pocket within her belt. She looked toward the entrance of the garden and saw a familiar dot of red getting closer. She sighed, for what exactly, she really didn't know. She was thankful Azula was finally there, she was getting impatient with waiting. But she was disappointed that her moment of peace will soon be halted. No matter how much Ty Lee had disrupted that moment of quiet, Ty Lee's babbling was sort of welcoming than the other's. Azula's too much regard of herself was reasonable, but it's become a little bit tiring lately, if not completely expected. The routine of it all was just getting somewhat... boring.

* * *

_note: it is considered impolite to spear your food with chopstick_


End file.
